'Call Em Out Fridays': Williams/Cintron - All for Nothin', or All or Nothin'?

By Vivek Wallace: This Saturday night, fight fans will watch as two men who need little introduction write yet another chapter in their respective careers. With a ton of applicable connotations ready for employment, "all for nothin'", and "all or nothin'" could be no more fitting, as one man continues to question why his hard work has yet to truly pay off; and the other finds himself needing to answer the ever present question of his career which serves as a reminder that his next loss could be the one to remove him from relative contention.....perhaps this time for good. The paths these two men traveled to reach the present vary considerably, but as they stand at center stage awaiting the type of progress that sets the pretenders from the contenders, they do so knowing that there's no better time than the present to seize the moment.

In an era of the sport where media personnel can be known to hand out the term Pound-4-Pound like demo's at a rap concert, Paul Williams is a fighter who actually breathes life into the very essence of those words, ready and willing at all times to step up in weight to chase names, titles, and anything else within his path.. Over the course of a career which spans a little shy of a decade, Williams has made noise in the welterweight, jr. middleweight, and the middleweight ranks. The intriguing thing about Williams is that despite the fact that he rarely lands on any of the P4P top 3 list, the height of his resume contains a slew of difficult opponents who have spent most of their careers looking for men to step up and fight them as well.

From Antonio Margarito, to 'Winky' Wright, to Sergio Martinez, and on a more lighter scale, perhaps even Carlos Quintana; neither of these men were ever the first to be called when a champion in the present weight class needed a certified dancing partner. When you consider that truth and realize that Williams remains far out of reach in terms of the sports grand stage, it really makes you wonder how this 'dark horse' has failed to find the light.

Crossing over to his opponent, the name Kermit Cintron serves the opposite effect, leaving more questions to be answered, than answers given from questions. Entering the tenth year of his career as well, Cintron's position in the sport leaves a little more to be desired, yet it's hard to pinpoint precisely why. Athletically, one could venture to say that he is actually the more gifted of the two, yet results against like opponents (Margarito and Martinez), produced strikingly different results. One may argue that the results against another man they shared airspace with, (Walter Mathyssee), resulted in a much shorter night for Cintron; but a closer analysis shines light on the fact that in this case, his ability to connect simply outlived what can be viewed as a profound disability, by way of a strong set of nerves which typically do him in when that same power fails him.

With mega money and the land of better opportunity waiting in the backdrop, both men will enter this fight knowing full well that nothing they did in the past will mean more than the task that awaits in the present. A victory for Williams will lead to more notoriety, while a win for Cintron will create more space between where he now stands and a haunted past which remains marred with questions. A loss for either man would be met with a trip back to the end of the line....a place where rising competitors will have more reason to call their names even less.....a scenario that these two men know far too well. So, as we lead into this potential career defining moment for Williams and Cintron, we do so asking Williams has his effort been "all for nothing"? And we follow that motion by asking Cintron will this in fact be "all or nothing"? Be it grade school or life in general, any test requires the proper answers to find success. Both men have come close to finding success, but to reach the next level, we will now learn whether or not they are prepared to finally provide the proper answer? Tune in Saturday night on HBO to find out. (Check local listings for showtime).

(Official Prediction article will be posted on the morning of Saturday, May 8th)